Opinionsi of tbr THE PRINCIPLE OF OPEN QUESTIONS.
LONDON RRVIEW—The system which sanctions the members of an adminis- ration in voting in opposition to their principles, because their colleagues hold different opinions—which renders the emoluments of office an honourable excuse for the sacrifice of principle and the betrayal of a trust—has been justified upon the plea, that without it no government could be carried on ; that the members of an administration must make mutual concessions, and that such hasalways been the case, and ever will be the case. Without doubt, the members of a govern- ment must agree as to the measures which they are to bring forward as a government ; though even then the compromise which ought to be required should concern only the specific application of a principle or the minor details of a measure, not the principle itself upon which the measure is to be founded. But a considerable diversity of opinion amongst a Ministry with regard to what measures are to be opposed, is by no means incompatible with the existence of an administration. A certain avowed similarity of opinion is required, in order to form a ministry ; but that similarity of opinion ought to be the cause, not the consequence of holding office : for if an administration be at- tempted to be formed upon the principle of supporting certain measures, and of opposing others, and if competent persons cannot be found for the purpose with- out a compromise of their opinions, this fact proves of itself that the principle upon which the administration is attempted to be formed is one which the In- fluential minds of the country do not generally approve. If a government be really in accordance with the wishes of the nation, and the opinions of its wisest and ablest minds, that government can never so much require the assi.itance of any individual as to be Justified in sanctioning in him a sacrifice of principle, as if the mighty interests of a great nation were linked to his being in office. Nevertheless, this is the modest position covertly assumed by every petty under- ling. who renounces his professed opinions for the sake of his miserable post. The people are especially interested in branding such conduct with the strongest marks of moral disapprobation; for the plea that in every administra- tion there must be a compromise of principle, is the usual excuse for granting the smallest possiblequantity of good, and for the iudefinite postponement of popular measures. This plea has often enabled the ambitious man to grasp power without ignominy, though at the expense of principle, and has too fre- quently justified the desertion of the quondam leaders of the popular party. The immoral doctrine which we are endeavouring to stigmatize, is one of the legacies left to us by the rotten-borough system. Under that pernicious system, there sprung up a false political morality—the morality of party, cal- culated with the sole view of augmenting the power and of increasing the sta- bility of the political body with which a public man happened to le connected. The object of a faction out of power was to gain power as quickly as possible; therefore popular opinions were professed, and popular questions were agitated with the view of discrediting as much as possible the party in power. Any kind of itsincetity was justified in the party, provided it helped to render the position of its opponents more difficult. Once in power, the object of the party was to retain power. As the two aristocratic factions were nearly of equal strength, the closest union between the members of the party in power was requisite ; a single defeat was fatal, as evincing the superior strength of the opposite faction. Therefine the popular opinions which had been professed were uttered no more; the popular questions which had been agitated were stopped they had served their purpose. To have adhered to them would have driven into the ranks of the opponents many of the supporters of the govern- ment ; to have carried them would have destroyed the sway of faction, by placing power in the hands of the people,—a result never contemplated by the members of either party. Refined vice ever attempts to clothe itself iu the least offensive phrases; and the most profligate sacrifice of principle was dis- guised by the assertion that the members of an administration, must make mutual concessions, ltd their fa iends must back them ; that all must ' yield a little to one another,' and not positively insist on pursuing ' abstract notions and theories,' but ' content themselves with the practical good which resulted from their party being in power.';? The people sometimes murmured, and were Jachgnant ashen, they found their ablest leaders Ruddeuly reduced to silence. They were told that they must he quiet, that they had every thing to expect from the inclinations of Ministers, that what Ministers had done was no-test of what they would do, that Ministers were high-spirited and independent men, who would not he compelled eovn to do good. who would of their own free-will concede many a liberal measure'. but would not aplwar to be forced even into proper coneresions.• Such Language was fitting enough when the chiefs of faction had the representation of the country in their holds ; and when they in conclave could determine the amount of what was to he granted to the people. The people were then the servants. and the factions were their masters: their language was that of adulation ; they had to entreat - the aristocracy com- manded. The state of affairs has chanced ; but the old feelings with reference to the position of the rulers towards the ruder', the old principles of party morality, ale Gill extant, and pervade a considerable portion of the community. As tl e feeling% belonged to tl e Rotten Borough is'ystem. so they are still "set alive by the remains Of that Istein ; but they are fast dying out. The People are beginning to think on the sul.jemut : they have begun to ask, why a line of conduct which would be discreditable in any uther man is pertnissible in a poli• titian ? why the code of political honour is so diffitrent from that of general honour ? and, furtunately, they have acquired the means of compelling a reply. Besides, the members of the Administration are now not only responsible as a government to the nation at Loge, but arc each individually responsible to their own constituents. Though those constituents as yet have frequently listened in silence to the excuses professed by their Representatives, as members of a government, it haa been generally a silence of just dissatisfaction. If this system be pursued, the time is at hand when no really independent constituency will select as its representative any person who, being connected with the government of the day, acknowledges the principle that he is to be guided by the wishes of others, and not by his own earnest convictions. In many of the lay ger constituencies in England, the fee of being connected with the Govern- ment is already considered by a large number of the electors as a solid and well- grounded objection to a candidate. This feeling is g. g ground. It origi- nates iu the belief that a member of any administration mugs! sacrifice his prin- ciples. The necessity is a mere fiction. But if administrations continue to be formed upon that feigned necessity, the members of a government will have to take refuge in those places which are the relics of the ancient borough system, where intimidation and corruption are still all-powerful—places which every sincere Reformer ought to attempt to deprive of the power of returning Repre- sentatives. The members of a government will otherwise beerceluded from the House of Commons. The feeling which will keep them out of Parliament will likewise tend to keep every irigh-spiriterl and independent man aloof from being connected with the admiuistration : he would recoil before the feeling of moral disapprobation which would fallow the compromise of principle so falsely as- tinnier' to be necessary. Undoubtedly, upright men have been members of administrations, and have assented to a compromise of their principles: but they believed such conduct wee cot immoral ; they were educated in the notions of party morality, and they found that their fellow citizen.; did not openly di.approve, and that all around them approved. They never thought of ex- amining the question, and they had no constituents who could force them to look out for a justification. But they now have to satisfy not only themselves but (ahem Who would like to expose himself to reproaches from constituents like those which were poured down upon Sir II. Paruell at Dundee? If this evil system be pursued, the only government which can be formed must con- sist of men who have no sincere and earnest convictions, in whom, therefore, the people can place no confidence, and time whom they can have no respect. On the highest, therefore, of all grounds—namely, that of tool ality—it is the duty of the Liberal party to insist that there should no longer he an open and avowed compromise of principle amongst the members of the Government which they keep in existence ; and it is the especial duty of the constituents of those gentleineu now to make known to them their obligations as honest Representatives.
But no Reform Administration can now he formed, some of the members of which will not be in favour of most of the questions to which we have referred. This is the case with the present Administration; and the only men from which: it can recruit its ranks are persons professing the most Liberal opinions, for there Is not one rising man belonging to the Moderate Whig party. Unless the lues- tious between the Whigs and the Radicals be made open questions, no Reform Government :an exist without a compromise of principle. If the present Ministers continue in office, flagrant immorality on the one band, open ques- tions on the other. is the alternative before them. Fortunately, the People and their Representatives have to be present at the choice, and to give or withhold their assent.
SYMPTOMS OF TORY DISCOMFORT.
MORNING Posr—In the last session of Parliament the King's :Moisten distinctly and emphatically opposed the Bellot, the proposition for Triennial Parliaments, and the abolition of the general rate for the support of churches. If these men were honest—we use the word with reference to their political character—it would he a math r of cot:linty that in the coining session of Par- liament they would do the same, or !dein• that sums new matter (other than their own intense desire to retied!' in Olive) has arisen to make them take a different course. But there i• uu such impreesion. On the contrary, the universal opinion is that, if a chenge of pekes en these questions lie Items- wiry to their conti llll ;owe in muffin!, they will ineke the change ; but otherwise not. It is not imagined that any alteration has ruken place in their convictions, but it is supposed that an alteration tour have taken p1.11212 in the terms upon which their tenure of office will be permitted by the Radical party. Is it not miserably degrading to the Iltitish tritium that a Ministry should exist, re- specting which the country seemed:ace in such a nrinner ? The conduct of the Ministerial Ititlicals alinuet every whit ae dishonest as that of the Ministers themselves, and, if possible, more wretelwdly mean. They seem to have no conception that there is any moral ehligetion upon a public man to declere his views openly, and to take Ito underleted advaetage ar:e- ing from the weakness or WOIllIll,4111.Sq of thu-e w;t11 uliun they la we to deal. Upon the system which the Ministmead It id c d4 purses, we are 'eft no room to doubt, that if it were their policy to weeken the till:Mee.: of any foleign State, they would have no objection to league With pith locks, or auy taller sort of desperate vagabonds, who might undertake fur their own ismmetit to rob the treasure of the State which it should he considered expedient to weaken. These Radical legislators seem to have no eblection whatever to give their assent to what they believe to he fake, provided the thing to which they assent appeals to lead to what they desire—to be " an iloutahnent " of what they (le- nient!! When, for example, the Minister !opposes to sacrifice a certain part of corporate property, in murder to satisfy them, ani to in-ure the security of the rest, they give their assent, and say nothing at Al agaiust the condition : but as soon as the sacrifice is made, they boast of the ailseintage gained, as a blow against the security of the whole, and forget the condition altogether. This is not policy—it is mere rascality ; but the drys have come, even to Great Britain and Ireland, in which these two things are much confounded with one another. If we would survive as a nation, an cud must be put to
THE REVENUE.
COURIER—TIM increase of revenue has not latterly been such as might have been fairly anticipated ; and instead of repeating the usual commonplace gratu• • Vile of late the Eumeelncr. rank. Wiens on the increase that actually takes place, we think that our contemporas ries would be quite as well employed were they to inquire why it is not mate- rially greater. During the last three years, the population of Great Britain has been augmented by about a million, that is, by about one-sixteenth part of what it amounted to in 1831; and as the country has been all the while in an exceedingly prosperous state, and the price of provisions generally moderate, there ought clearly to have been a very large increase of revenue-much greater, in fact, than there has been. Various circumstances have, no doubt, contri- buted to bring about this result. Of these, we incline to think that the in- crease in the price of sugar and other colonial products, and the influence of the timber monopoly, have been the most powerful. Exclusive of the 20,000,000/. assigned to the West Indians as slave compensation, we give them the substan- tial monopoly of our markets ; and oblige, by an Irish sort of discernment, our increasing population to depend principally for sugar, coffee, and other colonial products, on their decreasing supplies. Hence the extraordinary difference that has prevailed during almost all the past year in the price of British and Foreign sugar in bond. had the sugars of Brazil and Cuba been admitted into our markets during the last year at the same duty as British Plantation sugar, the price of that indispensable necessary would have been at least 101. a ton less than it has been ; and taking our consumption at 180,000 tons, this would have made a saving to the public of no less than 1,800,000/. And, supposing that they had laid out this sum on sugar, it would have enabled the consumers, taking its average price, inclusive of the duty, at 55s. a hundredweight, or 55/. a ton, to have purchased an additional 32,720 tons, on which Government .pull have received a nett income of 785,0001., being more than the entire produce of the glass.duties! We observe it stated in some of the recently- published mercantile returns, that the deliveries of sugar for home consume- t'on in the port of London in 1834, exceeded 128,000 hogsheads, whereas, in 1.i36 they only amounted to 106,000 hogsheads. This ratio many not, however, hold in Liverpool, Bristol, and other ports ; but whatever may be the con- saniption last year, it is abundantly certain that it would have been very much larger but for the perverse legislation with respect to the sugar trade. Government has it in its power, by making a judicious change in relation to it, to add a million a year to the revenue, and at the same time make a. large addition to the comforts and enjoyments of all classes. The same is the case with the duty on coffee. Notwithstanding the vast increase of population, the consumption of coffee has been nearly stationary for some years ; but were the duty reduced to 4d., and foreign coffee admitted, the probability is that the consumption would be very speedily doubled. The duty on tea is, also, a great deal too high. We talk of Rus- sian duties ; but our duty of 2s. Id. per lb. on Bohea and coarse Congou, ex- ceeds in oppressiveness any duty levied on what may be deemed a necessary of life anywhere else in Europe. The timber-duties arc the very quintessence of all that is vicious in taxation. We load the near and better timber of the Baltic with a duty of 45s. a load, over and above the duty we impose on the more distant and inferior timber of Canada ; and having done this, we take to lecturing the Russians and Prussians on the unfairness of their tariffs ! Be- sides snaking ourselves ridiculous in the estimation of foreigners, we scruple not, in fret, to throw away 1,500,0001. a year of revenue, and take pains to mom- late our ships and houses with dry rot, that we may propitiate the shipping in- terest, by providing employment for a few thousand tons of worn• out shipping in the Canada trade. Unless John Bull were the most docile of ani- mals, he would not submit to have his pockets picked for any such purpose; and were the Government as anxious as it ought to be to promote the industry of the country, and to increase its resources, they would not allow session after session to pass by without making any effort of any kind to abate so abominable a nuisance.-Jan. 5.
CONDUCT OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND.
four: SA'S-We have nominally a large proportion of metal infused into the circulation. But can any one. look at the commercial occurrences of the last two months, and say there is an absolute certainty that all the demands upon the Bank of England will be paid in specie? The last publication of assets and liabilities showed less than five millions of bullion, whilst the circu- lation amounted to nearly seventeen millions and a half, and the deposits to e.pwards of thirteen millions, every shilling of which may be demanded at any tune in gold. The Bank, to contract the currency, had then sold Exchequer Bills until they could scarcely find apurchaser at 10s. discount ; whilst, from the state of the exchanges, their modicum of gold must have been diminishing daily. Her power to contract the currency appeared to have been completely
..mi
eal,.sted, when the Chancellor of the Exchequer came to her relief by in- tieasing the interest upon the Government bills. Thus an establishment, .-red up by her advocates as the monetary safeguard of the kingdom, was only saved from destruction by adding to the burdens of the people. Let us see how the Bank used her revived strength. Did she firmly continue to effect the contraction she alleges to be necessary ? No such thing. A great Joint Stock Bank, front injudicious management, Lai got itself into difficulties, and applied to the Bank of England for ae-iatance. Such assistance was affinded to the extent of half a million without much inquiry, for it turned out in a few weeks that all the state- _cents of its affairs, upon which the Joint Stock Bank founded its claim to as-istauce, were inaccurate, and that furtherlhelp to the extent of another half million was necessary to prevent a stoppage. This is as complete an illustra. tioa of the vicious principle of privileged banks as the greatest opponent of that 1:intiple could desire. The new power given to time ]lank of England at the ...Accuse of the people was not bestowed to enable her to launch out into flesh tavances, by the million at a time, in favour of those very establishments to whose improvidence the Directors had attributed all recent disarrangement of the monetary system; that power was accorded to her to effect the contraction of the currency, which bath the Bank and the Government deemed a measure of the most urgent necessity. The position of the commercial world appears to us at this moment in the highest degree critical. By the late advance of in- terest on Exchequer Bills, the Bank has acquired the power of shortening the urreucy to any amount, and no one can doubt that ere long it must, in self- defence, put 0:1 the " screw." The exchanges are)still against us, and :the de- naind for gold cannot be much less than it was at the perierl of their greatest ckpieseitsu ; for we hear from various quarters that the inclination to hoard ,;e1t1 has become very prevalent amongst people in all classes, and that such in- iination is continually increasing. In Ireland the operation of this cause is said to be very extensive. We cannot say the people are unwise in so doing ; far when public securities fluctuate neatly four per cent. in a month, the small qI met capitalist naturally stands aside to wait for more settled times.-Jan. 4.
TIMID MILLIONAIRES.
Ste s:na n-The dames incunibered with wealth are cowardly and indolent, „mul,for the greater part, they would make any sacrifice of religion or patriotism, Lather than run the slightest risk of diminishing their heaps. In this country y tc wcaltb-incumbered class are money capitalists and men largely engaged iu trade. The landowners, it is well known, are not rich ; and the small trade's, artisans, Fee. are, ex ri tenninoruni, the reverse of affluent. 'The wealth- 4nrion6ered classes will be generally Conservative, as long as the defence of ,religion and the monarchy offers no danger to their wealth, and no bribe is tial,t net to lure them to the other side. Lately we have seen how easily accessible they are to corruption, in the conduct of the atilt-owners of tlie North, win have been brought to join the ranks of revolution by the protection given, through the Whig Ministers, to the factory slave-trade. The new Poor-law bill has been another bribe to the wealth-incumbered classes, and as such Lord Brougham plainly described it in his address to the House of Lords. But these classes are not more corruptible than they are cowardly. It was the influence of the monied interest which operated, during twenty-five years, to restrain successive Tory Administrations from an honest, impartial, and vi"o- rous administration of the government of Ireland. They were afraid of another 1798-stupidly afraid ; for an honest, impartial, and vigorous 'administration of government is the best security against insurrection, and their " more dreaded terror," Consols at 46. It was the same influence of the monied interest which forced the Ministry of 1829 to finish ti.' work of twenty-five years before, by passing that bill which has led to all our late calamities and present dangers ; and, we do not aiesitate to repeat our conviction, that that influence would be almost power- ful enough to compel the best Conservative government to give away the Church of Ireland-to give away the Union-ay, and the Crown of Ireland itself, if Mr. O'Connell could demand any of them, and threaten civil war as plausibly as he might, with nine-tenths of the Irish representation at his back. It is in this way, and not because O'Connellite legislators are, in the eyes of any rational man, the fittest to govern Ireland-it is acting through the fears of the wealth-incumbered that a large addition to the Mendicant's follow- ing would make him, as respects Ireland, in sonic measure the master of a Conservative Government. If our opinion of the natural tendency of the wealth- ineumbered classes be revolutionary and destructive, we do not avuw it for the first time; nor can we claim the Arst discovery.-Tau. 4.
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